11 Research Method 1: Social Survey

Sudeshna Basu Mukherjee Basu Mukherjee

1. Introduction

While sitting and waiting at a train station, or in a public area, a person comes up to you with some papers in hands and asks if you have a few minutes to talk, then you have likely been asked to take part in a survey. There are a lot of ways to conduct research and collect information, but one way that makes it really easy is by doing a survey. A survey is defined as a brief interview or discussion with individuals about a specific topic. The term ‘survey’ is unfortunately a little vague, so we need to define it better. The term is often used to mean ‘collect information.’ For instance, you may imagine a researcher or a television anchor saying, ‘We did a survey and the outcome say the following!’

Charles James Booth (1889) an English philanthropist and social researcher first attempted to measure poverty among the working class in England at the end of the 19th century that influenced government intervention against poverty (Perecman and Curran 2006) there has developed a rich tradition of quantitative data analysis to answer empirical questions in the social sciences. The great advantage of survey data is that they facilitate quantitative analysis that allows for generalization to an entire population. Surveys by their very nature are designed to reach a large number of respondents, but they provide only limited information on each unit of observation. They are thus often ill-suited for the study of nuanced questions related to identity, subjective experience, or historical causation. But surveys are well suited to studies of political opinions; social attitudes; economic decisions and outcomes; and easily observable social behaviour such as fertility, migration, living arrangements, or visits to the doctor (Perecman and Curran 2006).

The word ‘survey’, as per Merriam Webster Dictionary, is derived from Anglo-French word ‘surveer’ which means to look over, i.e. to examine the condition, situation, or value-appraise; to query (someone) in order to collect data for the analysis of some aspect of a group or area; to determine and delineate the form, magnitude, and location of; to view or consider comprehensively; and to inspect, scrutinize.

Therefore, a social survey is any activity that collects information in an organized and methodical manner about characteristics of interest from some or all units of a population using well-defined concepts, methods and procedures, and compiles such information into a useful summary form. A survey usually begins with the need for information where no data or insufficient data exist. A survey consists of several interconnected steps which include: defining the objectives, selecting a survey frame, determining the sample design, designing the questionnaire, collecting and processing the data, analysing and  disseminating the data and documenting the survey. Careful probability sampling provides a sample (respondents) which has features that mirror the features of the larger population under study. Judiciously prepared standardised questionnaires / interview schedules can make available data in the same form from all respondents.

2.  Defining Survey

Surveys are a method of social research that is perhaps most frequently used mode of reflection on everyday life when researchers wish to examine a given social problematic. There are two options available to the researcher either to observe and /or ask. While observation is the most direct and immediate way of studying openly manifested behaviours, the only way the researcher can search for the motivation, attitude, beliefs, comprehension and expectations is by asking. This specific technique of gathering information

i.by questioning/asking,

ii.specific individuals who are the object of research,

iii. representative sample,

by means of a standardized questioning method, with the aim of studying the connections among the variables is known as survey. Survey research is a method of collecting data based on identical questions in the form of tools used (interview schedule/ questionnaire). Survey research employs individual/group administered pencil and paper questionnaires, face-to-face and telephone interviews, mailed self-administered questionnaires, and/or some other techniques of data collection which would produce quantitative assessment. The social survey or survey method is often referred to as cross-sectional research.

The key factor in defining the survey method is that some phenomenon (the major independent variable) is observed, but the researcher does not have control over its variation. Data is usually collected only once involving the administration of a questionnaire or interview schedule to a group of respondents who have been randomly selected. The key difference between experiment and survey is that the latter does not require a pre-test measure and the independent variable is typically a naturally occurring phenomenon rather than being manipulated by the researcher. Furthermore, the survey does not have a control group for purposes of comparison.

Let’s take the instance of a researcher who is interested in knowing about the attitudes toward female feticide in the city in which the researcher lives. The researcher decides to conduct a survey. Random samples of 800 couples from fertility clinics (public and private) are drawn with the use of patient registration lists. Questionnaires are then mailed to the 800 couples in order to assess their attitudes concerning female feticide. The results obtained from the survey questionnaire are processed, analysed, interpreted and documented as the survey outcome.

An important point to note in the survey design is that the data is collected after the fact or ex post facto. In other words, the attitudes toward female feticide were established long before the respondents came to the clinic and before the survey were mailed. The survey does not usually attempt to measure behaviour or attitude prior to the introduction of an independent variable. Instead, the independent variable and other naturally occurring variables (age, socio-economic status, religiosity, gender) all may have an impact upon the dependent variable (attitudes toward female feticide). The task of a sociologist is to assess which variables are more highly associated with the dependent variable, and to explain why these variables are correlated. This is quite different from the experimental design which (due to a high degree of control over all extraneous variables) attempts to determine the causal effects of one independent variable upon one dependent variable. In summary, survey research is one method of collecting, organizing and analysing data. The relevant data can be collected by a variety of techniques and in many studies it may be appropriate to use a range of research methods.

Thus, survey may be defined as following:

• Herbert Mc. Closky (1969) defined survey as any procedure in which data are systematically collected from a population or a sample thereof through some form or direct solicitation, such as face to face interviews, telephone interviews or mail questionnaires.
• Platt (1972: 77) called it a technique of data collection, that is the systematic and structured questioning, either by interview or by questionnaire, of relatively large number of respondents, e.g. public opinion polls, consumer behaviour research, census of population, etc.
• Kerlinger (1973) considered survey research as social scientific research and focuses on people, the vital facts of people, and their beliefs, opinions, attitudes, motivations and behaviour.
• Kraemer (1991) identified three distinguishing characteristics of survey research. First, survey research is used to quantitatively describe specific aspects of a given population. These aspects often involve examining the relationships among variables. Second, the data required for survey research are collected from people and are, therefore, subjective. Finally, survey research uses a selected portion of the population from which the findings can later be generalized back to the population.
• Glasow (2005) begins with a quote about the objectives of a survey: [Survey research is used]
• “to answer questions that have been raised, to solve problems that have been posed or observed, to assess needs and set goals, to determine whether or not specific objectives have been met, to establish baselines against which future comparisons can be made, to analyze trends across time, and generally, to describe what exists, in what amount, and in what context” (quoted in Isaac and Michael 1997: 136).
• According to Igo (2007: 5), today the public is simultaneously object, participant, and audience of survey research.

3. Purpose

The purpose of a survey research can be to generalize to larger populations or planned to transfer the findings to be useful to others in similar situations, with similar research questions (Marshall and Rossman 2006: 201). The purpose of the survey is to produce statistics, i.e. quantitative or numerical descriptions of some aspects of the study population (Fowler 2009). Sample surveys are typically conducted to estimate the distribution of characteristics in a population (Dillman 2000: 9). The ultimate goal of sample survey research is to allow researchers to generalize about a large population by studying only a small portion of that population (Rea and Parker 2005: xii, 4).

Attewell and Rule (1991: 313) suggested that “Traditional survey work is strong in … areas where field methods are weak”. Surveys can accurately document the norm, identify extreme outcomes, and delineate associations between variables in a sample. Jick (1983: 138) suggested that survey research may also contribute to greater confidence in the generalizability of the results. Yet, for a survey to succeed in elucidating causal relationships or even in providing descriptive statistics, it must contain all the right questions asked in the right way.

Survey research is unyielding to discoveries and essentially, the researcher must have a precise idea of the answer before starting a survey. Thus, traditional survey research usually serves as a methodology of verification rather than discovery and stringent loyalty to quantitative methods, highly simplified experimentation and the complete neglect of qualitative issues, context and situational complexity, highlights quantified achievement without substantial knowledge of problematic.

In other words, survey research can and should be conducted from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. In terms of survey research, the quantitative – qualitative divide remains in that quantitative researchers continue to resist the idea that open-ended interviewing is a valid form of survey research (see Fowler 2009) and qualitative researchers are surprised to learn that when they interview people to make statements that extend beyond the sample. In many instances, by informing themselves of some of the key tenets of survey research design, qualitative researchers could strengthen their research projects which would, in turn, be more rigorous and hence more credible, and quantitative researchers could expand the results of their findings by enlivening them with the voices of respondents.

3.1 Key characteristics of survey research

• Survey research is often a quantitative method but can be qualitative which requires standardized information from and/or about the subjects being studied. The subjects might be individuals, groups, organizations or communities.
• Sample selection must be done without any prejudice or preference so that the data collected through the survey will represent the entire population.
• The primary way of collecting information is by asking people structured and pre-defined questions to meet the objectives of the study.
• Interviews or questionnaires are the common methods used for data collection.
• Surveys are widely used in the social sciences and follow specific procedures based on survey science and the scientific method.
• It is one of the few techniques available for the study of attitudes, values, beliefs and motives.
• The survey process is highly inter-connected.

Advantages

• ü Faster data collection than other methods
• ü Relatively inexpensive data collection
• ü Survey data can be very accurate if sampling is probabilistic
• ü Access to a wide range of participants
• ü It is more ethical than experiments
• ü It uses the methods, materials and setting of the study of the real-life situation which is under investigation to ensure ecological validity.
• ü It is the sole way of retrieving information about a respondent’s past history.
• ü It is the only method where generalized information could be collected from almost any human population.

Disadvantages

• û Data may be superficial.
• û Can be expensive to ensure representative data.
• û Data may not have internal validity.
• û Data may not have construct validity because of self report problems.
• û Data may not have external validity because of poor sampling or because of non-response bias.
• û Survey research method is an inappropriate tool for the study of multitudes.
• û The critics of the methods say that individual respondent is placed outside the social context and collection of individuals cannot be treated as a group.
• û Direction of one’s own perception and judgment.
• û Survey research lacks dynamism.

3.2 Topics Appropriate for Survey

Surveys may be used for descriptive, explanatory and exploratory purposes. They are chiefly used in studies that have individual people as the units of analysis. Although this method can be used for other units of analysis, such as groups or interactions, it is necessary that some individual persons are used as respondents or informants. Thus, it would be possible to undertake a survey in which rural self-help groups (SHGs) were the unit of analysis, but survey questionnaires would need to be administered to the participants in these groups. It is the best method available to the researcher interested in collecting primary data from a population too large to observe directly. Surveys are also excellent vehicles for

measuring attitudes and orientations of a large population. Public opinion polls, for example, AC Nielsen, Gallup, are well known example of this use.

The survey approach refers to a group of methods which emphasize quantitative analysis, where data for a large number of organizations are collected and these data are analyzed using statistical techniques. By studying a representative sample of organizations, the survey approach seeks to discover relationships that are common across organizations and hence to provide generalizable statements about the object of study. However, often the survey approach provides only a snapshot of the situation at a certain point in time, yielding little information on the underlying meaning of the data.

Self-Check Exercise 1:

1. Why is survey preferred?

The term survey means collecting information; it facilitates quantitative analysis that allows for generalization to an entire population.

2. Examine survey as a method of data collection.

Survey research can collect, organizing and analysing data. The relevant data can be collected by a variety of techniques and in many studies it may be appropriate to use a range of research methods.

3. What is the purpose of a survey?

The purpose of the survey is to produce quantitative descriptions of some aspects of the study population. The ultimate goal is to allow researchers to generalize about a large population by studying only a small portion of that population.

4. What are the key tenets of survey research design?

Represents the entire population, subjects are individuals, groups, organizations or communities, information is collected by asking people structured and pre-defined questions to meet the objectives of the study, scientific method, the few techniques available for the study of attitudes, values, beliefs and motives, an interconnected process.

Indicate the advantages and disadvantages of survey as method of data collection. Advantages: Speed, cost, dependability, access, ethics, study of the real-life situation, retrieval information and generalizability. Disadvantages: superficial data, expensive to ensure representativeness, lacks validity, inappropriate for the study of multitudes, judgmental and lacks dynamism.

4. Types of Surveys

There are different types of surveys you can essentially categorize them into two: according to instrumentation and according to the span of time involved. The types of surveys according to instrumentation include the questionnaire and the interview. On the other hand, the types of surveys according to the span of time used to conduct the survey are comprised of cross-sectional surveys and longitudinal surveys.

4.1 According to Instrumentation

In survey research, the instruments/tools utilized can be either a questionnaire or an interview (structured / unstructured). Questionnaires are usually paper-and-pencil instruments that the respondent completes. Interviews are completed by the interviewer based on what the respondent says. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell the difference between a questionnaire and an interview. For instance, some people think that questionnaires always ask short closed-ended questions while interviews always ask broad open-ended ones. But you will see questionnaires with open-ended questions (although they do tend to be shorter than in interviews) and there will often be a series of closed-ended questions asked in an interview.

Survey research has changed dramatically in the last ten years. There can be automated telephone surveys that use random dialing methods, computerized kiosks in public places that allow people to ask for input. A whole new variation of group interview has evolved as focus group methodology. Increasingly, survey research is tightly integrated with the delivery of service.

4.1.1 Questionnaires

Normally, a questionnaire is a paper-and-pencil instrument that is administered to the respondents. The usual questions found in questionnaires are closed-ended questions, which are followed by response options. However, there are questionnaires that ask open-ended questions to explore the answers of the respondents.

Today, questionnaires are utilized in various survey methods according to how they are given. These methods include the self-administered, the group-administered, and the household drop-off. Among the three, the self-administered survey method is often used by researchers nowadays. The self- administered questionnaires are widely known as the mail survey method. However, questionnaires are now commonly administered online, as in the form of web surveys.

A second type is the group administered questionnaire. A sample of respondents is brought together and asked to respond to a structured sequence of questions. Traditionally, questionnaires were administered in group settings for convenience. The researcher could give the questionnaire to those who were present and be fairly sure that there would be a high response rate. If the respondents were unclear about the meaning of a question they could ask for clarification. And, there were often organizational settings where it was relatively easy to assemble the group (in a college or NGO, for instance).

In the group administered questionnaire, each respondent is handed an instrument and asked to complete it while in the room. Each respondent completes an instrument.

A less familiar type of questionnaire is the household drop-off survey. In this approach, a researcher goes to the respondent’s home or business and hands the respondent the instrument. In some cases, the respondent is asked to mail it back or the surveyor returns to pick it up. This approach attempts to blend the advantages of the mail survey and the group administered questionnaire. Like the mail survey, the respondent can work on the instrument in private, when it’s convenient. Like the group administered questionnaire, the interviewer makes personal contact with the respondent — they don’t just send an impersonal survey instrument and, the respondent can ask questions about the study and get clarification on what is to be done. Generally, this would be expected to increase the percent of people who are willing to respond.

Strengths

• ü Requires minimum resources (staff, time, and cost)
• ü Best suited to eliciting confidential information.
• ü Minimal sampling error occurs due to the relatively low cost per survey.
• ü Minimal interviewer and respondent measurement errors due to the absence of direct contact (Salant & Dillman 1994).

• ü Allow the respondent the greatest latitude in pace and sequence of response.

Weakness

• û The involuntary nature makes this medium prone to response biases.
• û Subject to coverage error where population lists are incomplete or out of date.
• û Typically subject to non-response error. Less educated, illiterate, and disabled less likely to respond to written surveys (Isaac & Michael 1997: 138).
• û Also subject to bias where the intended respondent refers to others in completing the survey.
• û Subject to item non-response where some questions may be inadvertently or intentionally skipped (Salant & Dillman 1994).

4.1.2 Interviews

This type of survey takes many forms ranging from strict formal interview to the completely open– ended or unstructured interview (for a detail discussion on interview read Module RMS 12) in which the interviewer actually changes mode of questions in the hope of getting a deeper understanding of issues under investigation. Between the two broad types of surveys, interviews are more personal and probing. In the personal interview, the interviewer works directly with the respondent. Unlike mail surveys, the interviewer has the opportunity to probe or ask follow-up questions. Interviews are generally easier for the respondent, especially if what are sought are opinions or impressions. The interviewer is considered a part of the measurement instrument and interviewers have to be well trained in how to respond to any contingency. Questionnaires do not provide the freedom to ask follow-up questions to explore the answers of the respondents, but interviews do. An interview includes two persons – the researcher as the interviewer, and the respondent as the interviewee. There are several survey methods that utilize interviews. These are the personal or face-to-face interview, the telephone interview and more recently, the online interview. The structured interview provides uniform information which assures the

comparability of data. In fact, interviewing is an art governed by certain scientific principles and structured interviewing requires fewer interviewing skills than does unstructured interviewing. Every effort should be made to create friendly atmosphere of trust and confidence so that the respondents may feel at ease while talking to and discussing with the interviewer. The interviewer must (i) understand the respondent profile – their need, concern, education levels, etc.; (ii) places questions in such a way that the addressees understands and reply satisfactorily; (iii) begins questions from simpler to difficult; (iv) not embarrasses the respondents and be friendly, polite, informal and impartial; (v) keeps the respondent on the right trajectory and discourage irrelevant conversation; and (vi) asks only one question at a time.

Strength

• ü Face-to-face interview, a particularly flexible tool capturing verbal inflexion, gestures, and other body language, i.e. they are resource intensive personal or delicate information obtained in a detailed manner.
• ü Instant or spontaneous response of the interviewee can be gathered, misinterpretation of questions by the interviewee can be controlled by the flexibility of the interviewer to restructure the questions if needed.
• ü Additional insights into the answers provided can be obtained by observing the respondent’s body language (Isaac & Michael 1997: 140).
• ü Useful where the true population is not known or when respondents are unable or unlikely to respond to written surveys (Salant & Dillman 1994)
• ü Well suited to long or complex questionnaires and for reaching the correct respondents.

Weakness

• û Expensive and time consuming method particularly when a large and widely spread geographical sample is taken into account.
• û Resource intensive in terms of staff, and facilities.
• û Subject to measurement error when untrained interviewers are used (Salant & Dillman 1994).
• û Findings difficult to summarize and incorporate in data analyses (Isaac & Michael 1997).

• û The presence of the interviewer on the spot may over-stimulate the respondent, sometimes even to the extent that he may give imaginary information just to make the interview interesting Almost everyone is familiar with the telephonic interview. Telephonic interviews enable a researcher to gather information rapidly. Most of the major public opinion polls that are reported were based on telephonic interviews. Like personal interviews, they allow for some personal contact between the interviewer and the respondent. And, they allow

the interviewer to ask follow-up questions. But they also have some major disadvantages. Many people don’t have publicly-listed telephone numbers. Some don’t have telephones. People often don’t like the intrusion of a call to their homes. And, telephonic interviews have to be relatively short or people will feel imposed upon.

4.1.3 Other methods used for data collection in survey research

Panel Survey: It is a method of direct extension of a questionnaire or interview survey. In a panel survey, data are collected from the same people at two or more points in time. Panel survey data can test causal hypotheses in at least two ways. First, one can examine whether individual-level changes over time in an independent variable correspond to individual-level changes in a dependent variable over the same period of time. Second, one can assess whether changes over time in a dependent variable can be predicted by prior levels of an independent variable. One application of this approach occurred in a study of a long-standing social psychological idea called the projection hypothesis. Rooted in cognitive consistency theories, it proposes that people may overestimate the extent to which they agree with others whom they like, and they may overestimate the extent to which they disagree with others whom they dislike.

Panel surveys do have some disadvantages. First, although people are often quite willing to participate in a single cross-sectional survey, fewer may be willing to complete multiple interviews. Furthermore, with each additional wave of panel data collection, it becomes increasingly difficult to locate respondents and re-interview them, because some people move to different locations, some die etc. This may threaten the representativeness of panel survey samples if the members of the first-wave sample who agree to participate in several waves of data collection differ in meaningful ways from the people who are interviewed initially, but do not agree to participate in subsequent waves of interviewing (Visser et.al. 2000).

Observation Method: It is especially used in studies relating to behavioural sciences. In a way, we all observe things around us, but this sort of observation is not scientific unless we keep certain issues in mind like (i) what should be observed; (ii) how the observation is to be recorded; and (iii) how best the accuracy of the observation can be ensured (for a detail discussion on observation, read Module RMS 13). Under observation method, the investigator himself is seeking information on his own direct observation without asking from the respondent. The information obtained relates to what is currently happening and is not complicated by either the past behaviour or future intentions or attitudes of respondents. The observation is of two kinds, viz; Controlled and Uncontrolled. If the observation takes place in the natural setting, it can be called uncontrolled observation but if the observation takes place as per the definite pre-arranged plans following experimental procedures, it can be called controlled observation. The main purpose of observation is to get a spontaneous picture of life and persons.

Strength

• ü Subjective bias is eliminated if observation is done accurately.
• ü The information obtained under this method relates to what is currently happening, therefore, it is not complicated by either the past behaviour or future intentions or attitudes.

Weakness

• û It is an expensive method.
• û Information observed/gathered can be limited.
• û Unforeseen factors may interfere during observations.
• û Observation can be biased if it is not understood in proper perspectives.
• û This method is not applicable in inquiries where large samples are concerned.

4.2 According to the Span of Time

The span of time needed to complete the survey brings us to the two different types of surveys: cross-sectional and longitudinal.

4. 2.1 Cross-Sectional Surveys

Collecting information from the respondents at a single period in time uses the cross-sectional type of survey. Cross sectional surveys usually utilize questionnaires to ask about a particular topic at one point in time. For instance, a researcher conducted a cross-sectional survey asking teenagers’ views on cigarette smoking as of May 2015. Sometimes, cross-sectional surveys are used to identify the relationship between two variables as in a comparative study. An example of this is administering a cross-sectional survey about the relationship of peer pressure and cigarette smoking among teenagers as of May 2015.

4.2.2 Longitudinal Surveys

When the researcher attempts to gather information over a period of time or from one point in time up to another, he is doing a longitudinal survey. The aim of longitudinal surveys is to collect data and examine the changes in the data gathered. Longitudinal surveys are used in cohort studies panel studies and trend studies.

4.3 Guidelines for Construction of Schedules/ Questionnaires: Designing the question is commonly an art rather than science. Young (2009) gives a small number of mandatory matters for most schedules/ questionnaires like (i) the documentation of the agency collecting the data, agency sponsoring the study, along with the address to which the forms (schedules/questionnaires) are to be returned by mail (in case of mailed questionnaires) must be clearly specified; (ii) the title of the survey in large font in the front page of the form; (iii) the authority for the basis or the collection of the information should be stated; (iv) the assured confidentiality of the data should be mentioned; (v) the dates of the period covered by the report should be stated in advance; (vi) it is usually advisable to assign a serial number to each questionnaire in order to identify it easily; and (vii) when a questionnaire contains more than one page, each page should be numbered.

4.3.1 Characteristics of a good question in a schedule/ questionnaire: The characteristics include

• (i) one that yields a truthful, accurate answer; (ii) one that asks for one answer on one dimension;
• (iii) one that accommodates all possible contingencies of response; (iv) one that uses specific, simple language; (v) one that has mutually exclusive response options; (vi) one that produces variability in response; (vii) one that minimizes social desirability; and (viii) one that is pretested.

4.3.2 Question Issues: In general, drawing up a good questionnaire requires (a) an experienced researcher; (b) knowledge of the population to which the questionnaire is to be administered; and (c) clarity of the research hypothesis. The subject matter of the question can be divided under three broad headings: basic socio-graphic properties; attitudes; and behaviours.

• Questions concerning basic socio-graphic properties: These refer to the simple description of the social characteristics of the individual (hence, the term socio-graphic). By this we mean the individual’s permanent features, such as, demographic feature (gender, age etc.) and social connotations inherited from the family or acquired in youth (religion, caste).
• Questions concerning attitudes: Here the area under investigation has to do with opinions, motivation, orientation, feelings, evaluations, judgments, and values. These properties of the individual are those that are most typically recorded through surveys.

Finally, attitudes vary enormously from person to person in terms of intensity and degrees of intensity are difficult to discover through a questionnaire. For all these reasons; and first of all on account of the intrinsic complexity and ambiguities involved, questions on attitudes are among the most difficult to formulate.

• Questions concerning behaviours: In this case the researcher records what the interviewee says she does or has done. This takes us to field of ‘actions’ which for at least two reasons constitutes much more solid grounds. First of all, unlike attitudes, which depend upon psychological and mental processes, actions are unequivocal. Second, behaviours are empirically observable. An action can be observed by another person and may leave objective traces. Actions are therefore empirically verifiable though this does not mean that a respondent’s answers will actually be verified. Nevertheless, the fact that a precise reply exists means that questions on behaviour are usually easier to answer.

4.3.3 Open vs. Closed Questions: In formulating a question, one of the first decisions to be taken by the researcher is whether it should be presented in the form of an open question or a closed question. Open-ended survey questions allow respondents to answer in their own words. Open-ended questions also allow the researcher to explore ideas that would not otherwise be aired and are useful where additional insights are sought (Salant & Dillman 1994: 81). They are also useful where the researcher is less familiar with the subject area and cannot offer specific response options. Open-ended questions require greater thought and contemplation on the part of the respondent, and are, therefore, more time intensive to answer (Salant & Dillman 1994: 79). The results obtained from open-ended questions are also more difficult to analyze. Finally, it is more difficult to identify a single course of action from the broad range of responses that are received to open-ended questions (Ibid. 80). In contrast, closed-ended questions require the respondent to choose from among a given set of responses. Closed-ended questions require the respondent to examine each possible response independent of the other choices. The choices form a continuum of responses, such as those provided by Likert scales and numerical ranges. These types of questions are easiest for respondents to answer and for researchers to analyze the data. These questions require the respondent to compare possible responses and select one. The researcher must ensure that the respondent is given a comprehensive selection of responses.

Closed-ended questions may also be categorized as: (a) questions that describe and evaluate people, places, and events; (b) questions that measure responses to ideas, analyses, and proposals; and (c) questions that measure knowledge.

• Questions that Describe and Evaluate People, Places and Events: These questions include those that ask respondents to make self-assessments. The question should be carefully examined to ensure that it is not open to different interpretations (Fowler 2009).
• Questions that Measure Responses to Ideas, Analyses or Proposals: These questions ask respondents to compare their own views to the ideas presented in the question statement. For this, questions must be clear and unambiguous. As noted earlier, the researcher must be careful to present one idea at a time.
• Questions that Measure Knowledge: These questions are often used to assess respondents’ familiarity with a subject. Such questions are used to gauge respondents’ ability to provide informed  responses or to identify those respondents who believe they are informed and compare their responses to those who do not believe they are informed (Fowler 2009). The appropriateness of closed or open ended questions depends on: (i) the objectives of the questionnaire; (ii) the respondents’ level of information about the topic in questionnaire; (iii) the extent to which the topic has been thought through by the respondent; (iv) the ease with which the respondents can communicate the content of the answer.

4.4 Pre-testing of Questionnaire: Before finalizing the questionnaire, it is better if it is pre-tested with the part of sample respondents. Moser and Kalton (1985) point out that however experienced the questionnaire designer may be, any attempt to shortcut these preparatory stages will seriously jeopardize the quality of the questionnaire. The pre-testing enables the researcher to ascertain the errors and unnecessary and detrimental trends in the questionnaire. It supports in enriching the questionnaire and assists in testing the validity and reliability of statistical technique to be adopted for data processing and analysis. Goode and Hatt (1952) specified certain signs or indicators which can be perceived through pre-testing which lead to rectification or alteration of the content, order and language of the questionnaire. The indicators are: (i) lack of proper order in the responses; (ii) all-or-none responses; (iii) large number of “do not know” or “do not understand” answers; (iv) many qualified answers or irrelevant opinions; (v) high proportion of refusals to answer; and (vi) high degree of variance in answers when the question order is changed. In situations where these indicators are observed by pilot surveys or pre-testing, it is a substantial saver of time.

4.4.1 Reliability: This refers to how consistent a measuring device is. A measurement is said to be reliable or consistent if the measurement can produce similar results if used again in similar circumstances. Reliability in questionnaire studies relates to the ability of the tool to produce the same results if we test it more than two-three times.

4.4.2 Validity: This refers to whether a study measures or examines what it claims to measure or examine. Questionnaires are said to often lack validity for a number of reasons. Participants may lie; give answers that are desired and so on. It is argued that qualitative data are more valid than quantitative data.

Self-check exercise-II

1. What are different types of survey? Cross-sectional and longitudinal.

2. When is a survey considered cross-sectional and when longitudinal?

Cross-sectional when the difference is according to instrumentation and longitudinal when the difference is according to time span.

3. Identify the different survey instruments.

Different survey instruments are questionnaire and interview schedule.

4. Identify the advantages of questionnaire as tool of survey research.

Low resource, confidential information, minimal sampling error, no direct contact, freedom in pace and sequence of response.

5. Identify the advantages of Interview as tool of survey research.

Flexible tool, captures voice modulation, gestures, and other body language, controls misinterpretation of questions by the interviewee, instant explanations given, useful where true populations is unknown, suited for long or complex questionnaires.

6. Draw up the requirements of a good questionnaire.

A good questionnaire requires (a) an experienced researcher; (b) knowledge of the population to which the questionnaire is to be administered; and (c) clarity of the research hypothesis.

5. Selecting the Survey Method

Selecting the type of survey the researcher is going to use is one of the most critical decisions in many social research contexts. There are very few simple rules that will help make the decision — only the researcher has to use her judgment to balance the advantages and disadvantages of different survey types. There are a number of questions that the researcher might ask that can help guide the decision.

• Population Issues: The first set of considerations has to do with the population and its accessibility. For some populations, the researcher has a complete listing of the units that will be sampled. For others, such a list is difficult or impossible to compile. For instance, there are complete listings of registered births or person with active passports. But no one keeps a complete list of childless couple. If the researcher is doing a study that requires input from childless people, it is very likely that the researcher need to go and find the respondents personally. In such contexts, one can pretty much rule out the idea of mail surveys or telephonic interviews.
• Literacy issues: Questionnaires require that the respondents can read. While this might seem initially like a reasonable assumption for many adult populations, we know that in a country like India the instance of adult illiteracy, especially in rural India, is alarmingly high. And, even if the respondents can read to some degree, the questionnaire may contain difficult or technical vocabulary. Clearly, there are some populations that the researcher would expect to be illiterate. Young children would not be good targets for questionnaires.
  • Cooperative population: People who do research have a difficult methodological problem. They need to speak with people who are otherwise engaged. Why would we expect those respondents to cooperate? Why do they spend their time for the researcher? Although the researcher may mean no harm, the respondents are at considerable risk legally if information they divulge should get into the hand of the authorities.Language issues: In a multilingual world, every society has members who speak other than the predominant language. Our country is officially multilingual. There are as many languages as many people in a region. Can multiple versions of the questionnaire be produced? Could some of the important nuances get lost in the process of translating the questions?
  • Geographic restrictions: If the population of interest is dispersed over too broad a geographic range it would not be feasible for the researcher to conduct a personal interview. It may be possible to send a mail instrument to a nationwide sample. The researcher may be able to conduct phone interviews with them. But it will almost certainly be less feasible to do research that requires interviewers to visit directly with respondents if they are widely dispersed.

6. Sampling

Sampling is one of the most critical aspects of any survey because it forms the base for the main claim of generalizability, the core strength of quantitative research (for a detail discussion on sampling and its types, read Module RMS 17, 18 and 19). Sampling designs can be very intricate, subject to the goal of the research (Kish 1995). The choice of sampling design often balances research goals and the costs of conducting the survey. At the heart of sampling is the pursuit of representativeness through random selection. The first step in sampling is to obviously define the population of interest, such as those 60 years of age and more who live in a household with children or without children. The next step is to develop a sampling frame, or a list of possible respondents. Armed with a sampling frame, one can randomly select respondents to be surveyed. However, there is no guarantee that all the selected individuals can be found and will participate in the survey. Non-response can lead to an unrepresentative sample. Another important aspect of sampling is the choice of an appropriate sample size. Statistically, a larger sample makes it possible to measure the relationships between variables with greater precision. The sample is the actual group from which the researcher will collect data.

6.1 Sampling Issues: There are several important sampling issues to be considered when doing survey  research.

6.1.1 Availability of data: The researcher needs to know certain information about her sample such as their current address, current phone numbers etc.

6.1.2 Availability of respondents: Even if one has an accurate phone or address, one may not be able to locate or make contact with the sample. Let’s say you with to study Self Help Groups (SHGs) in a rural location. The question that would come up here is, does the researcher want to interview a specific individual, leader or any member of the group? What if the intended person is unwilling to be interviewed but someone else in the group is willing? Can all members of population be sampled? If the researcher has an incomplete list of the population (i.e., sampling frame) the researcher may not be able to sample every member of the population. Lists of various groups are extremely hard to keep up to date hence even though they are on sampling list, the researcher may not be able to get to them.

6.1.3 Response rates: Even if the researcher is able to solve the above mentioned issues, to deal with the issue of response rates is a problem. Some of the sample members simply refuse to respond, others with best of intentions can’t find the time, and others misplace the instrument or forget about the appointment for an interview. Low response rates are among the most difficult of problems in survey research.

6.2 Survey research is generally weak on validity but strong on reliability.

1) The survey design often lacks internal validity because there is limited control over external variables.

2) Due to this lack of control it is often difficult to establish causal relationships.

3) Some forms of interviewing can be very time consuming and costly.

4) Complex behaviours or attitudes are difficult to assess with survey techniques.

7. The Rules of Interviews

The researcher should always keep in mind the convention of the survey method, i.e. thank the respondent at the beginning for allowing you to conduct your study; keep the survey as short as possible —only include what is absolutely necessary; be sensitive to the needs of the respondent; be alert for any sign that the respondent is uncomfortable; thank the respondent at the end for participating and assure the respondent that you will send a copy of the final results.

Interviews are among the most challenging and rewarding forms of measurement. They require a personal sensitivity and adaptability as well as the ability to stay within the bounds of the designed protocol.

7.1 Role of the Interviewer in survey research is complex and multifaceted. It includes the following tasks:

• Locate and enlist cooperation of respondents
• Motivate respondents to do good job
• Clarify any confusion/concerns
• Observe quality of responses
• Train the Interviewers
• Describe the entire study and state the sponsoring authority
• Explain the sampling logic and process
• “Walk through” the interview
• Explain respondent selection procedures
• Identifying households & respondents
• Rehearse interview

7.2 The Interview: So all the preparation is complete, the training done, the interviewers ready to proceed their “kits” in hand. It’s finally time to do an actual interview. Each interview is unique, like a small work of art (and sometimes the art may not be very good). Each interview has its own ebb and flow — its own pace. To the outsider, an interview looks like a fairly standard, simple, prosaic effort. But to the interviewer, it can be filled with special nuances and interpretations that aren’t often immediately apparent. Every interview includes some common components. There’s the opening, where the interviewer gains entry and establishes the rapport and tone for what follows.

• Gaining entry
• Introducing and Explaining the study
• Asking the Questions
• Use questionnaire carefully, but informally
• Ask questions exactly as written
• Follow the order given & Ask every question
• Don’t finish sentences, keep a conversation moving
• Obtaining Adequate Responses (Probing)

Name of Paper: Meth

• Overt encouragement/ Elaboration
• Ask for clarification & Repeat questions when necessary
• Thank the respondent when concluding
• Tell them when you expect to send results
• Immediately after leaving — write down notes about the interview.

7.3 Survey Execution: The third phase of the survey process is the execution, or use, of the survey instrument. Salant and Dillman (1994) emphasized the importance of informed consent, maintaining the confidentiality and anonymity of individual responses and reporting survey results only in the aggregate. Another ethical consideration is recognizing that survey participation is a voluntary event that requires the researcher to encourage participation without undue pressure or coercion of the participants (Ibid. 9).

A pilot survey must first be conducted to test both the instrument and the survey procedures before the actual survey is conducted (Levy and Lemeshow 2008). Surveys can be evaluated in two ways: First, survey questions can be evaluated using focus group discussions, cognitive interviews to determine how well respondents understand the questions and how they formulate their responses, and pilot tests of surveys under field conditions (Fowler 2009). Second, responses to surveys can be analyzed to reveal expected relationships among the answers given, and to ensure consistency of respondent characteristics across questions. Responses can be compared to alternatively worded questions and to official records when available. Surveys can also be evaluated by measuring the consistency of responses to given questions over time.

Field testing the survey instrument facilitates later data collection and analysis (Isaac & Michael 1997: 137). Once field testing has been completed, the survey is conducted and the data are collected, coded, and processed.

8. Conclusion

Social science methodology largely depends upon survey methods in its research endeavour as it has the advantage of wide scope to have a great deal of information from a larger population. It can also be adapted to obtain personal and social facts, beliefs and attitudes. It is also said that survey research method is an inappropriate tool for the study of multitudes. The survey research requires a considerable amount of research knowledge, experience and sophistication on the part of the investigator with reference to sampling and sampling procedure, construction of questionnaire/schedule, art of interviewing, tabulation and analysis of data, report writing etc. The contributions made by the psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, economists, political scientists, and statisticians to the procedures and methods of survey research deserve mention.

Self-Check Exercise III:

1. Examine the issues based on which survey is selected. The population accessibility issue, literacy and language issue, cooperation and geographical restrictions.

2. Examine the important sampling issues to be considered when doing survey research. Availability of data and respondents, response rates, reliability and validity.

3. Ethical issues for survey research are: Informed consent, Confidentiality and Anonymity

9. SUMMARY

• In this module, survey as a method of data collection has been discussed. The survey method has been defined and purpose has been stated along with characteristics of the method.
• The advantages and disadvantages of this method have been pointed out along with the appropriateness of using survey research for descriptive, explanatory and exploratory purposes. Individuals are the units of analysis, quantitative method and statistical techniques are used for data analysis. By studying a representative sample the survey approach seeks to discover relationships that are common and hence generalizable.
• The different types of surveys categorized according to instrumentation and the span of time involved have been discussed. The different instruments, questionnaire and interview schedules have been analyzed along with the different types of administering processes such as self-administered, the group-administered, and the household drop-off questionnaires and face-to-face interview or telephonic interviews.
• Other methods such as Panel Survey and observational method used for data collection in survey research, the strengths and weaknesses have also been examined.
• The different types of surveys categorized according to span of time, i.e. cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys have been examined.
• Guidelines for Construction of Schedules/Questionnaires designing mandatory matters, characteristics of a good question in a schedule/questionnaire; drawing up a good questionnaire requirements have been examined along with formulation of an open or a closed question.
• The question of pre-testing a questionnaire, its reliability and validity issues has also been examined.
• Selecting the type of survey by the researcher is the most critical decisions in social research contexts, the simple rules that need to be taken account of have been discussed here.
• Sampling designs, important sampling issues and validity and reliability issues have been examined.
• The module has been concluded with role of Interview, interviewer and execution of the ethical considerations for survey.

11. References

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